IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGr  (MT-3) 


1.0 


1.1 


■tt  Wk   12.2 

!!f   |£o    12.0 


—  ™-t41I4 


\4 


'/ 


Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporallon 


23  WIST  MAIN  STRUT 

WIBSTM,N.Y.  14580 

(716)I72-4S03 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVi/ICIViH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  IVIicroreproductions  /  Institut  canatiien  da  microreproductions  historiquas 


■f,  tp 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 

The  institute  iias  attemptsd  to  obtain  tlia  bast 
original  copy  avaiiable  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibiiographlcally  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 

L'Institut  a  microfilm*  la  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  it*  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite.  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mtthode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquis  ci-dessous. 

0f 

Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 

Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

L_ 

Covers  damaged/ 
Couverture  endommagAe 

~n   Pages  damaged/ 

Pages  endommagies 

1 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  et/ou  pelliculAe 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restauries  et/ou  pelliculies 

1 

Cover  title  missing/ 

Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

y  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
.._    Pages  d*color*es,  tachetdes  ou  piquAes 

1 

Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  gAographiques  en  couleur 

Pages  detached/ 
— 1    Pages  d6tach*es 

r^ 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noirel 

/  Showthrough/ 
^    Transparence 

I     I   Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


D 
D 


D 


D 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Rail*  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

Lareliura  serr*e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intirieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajouties 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  itait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  *t*  filmies. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplimentaires: 


I      I    Quality  of  print  varies/ 


Qualit*  inigale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplimentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


D 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  filmies  A  nouveau  de  faqon  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu*  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

iox 

7 

tax 

[ 

1«i 

20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

/=¥<: 


)tails 
I  du 
lodifier 
'  une 
mage 


The  copy  filmad  h«r«  hai  b««n  r«produc«d  thanks 
to  tho  gonoroalty  of: 

La  BibliotMqiM  da  la  Villa  da  Montreal 


Tho  images  appearing  hero  aro  tha  bast  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  iceeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  Ail 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  Illustrated  Impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


L'exemplaire  film*  fut  reproduit  grice  i  la 
gAnArositA  de: 

La  BiMiothiqua  da  ki  Villa  da  Montrial 


Lea  Images  suivantes  ont  4t4  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
de  la  nettet*  de  rexemplaire  filmA,  et  en 
conformity  avec  las  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Lea  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprim4e  sont  filmte  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  lea  autras  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmte  en  commen^ant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  darnlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — ^>  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED ").  or  the  symbol  y  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  sulvants  apparattra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  —»- signlfle  "A  SUiVRE".  le 
symbols  y  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  In  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmfo  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diff Arents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seui  clich6,  II  est  film*  A  partir 
de  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'Images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  sulvants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


rrata 
Ito 


pelure, 

n  d 


1 

2 

3 

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QuiteCCANAD^  I 


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A  PLEA 


FOR  THE 


SWISS  MISSION  IN  CANADA: 

A  DISCOURSE, 

DELIVERED 

IN  THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  TROY, 
October,  l5,  1843. 

By  NATHAN  S.  S.  BEMAN. 

SECOND  EDITION. 


TROY,    N.  Y.: 

PUBLISHED  BY  YOUNG  &  HARTT. 
FROM  THE  PRESS  OF  N.  TUTTLE,  CCXXV  RIVER-STREET. 

1845. 


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i;  i¥!  ,««fi*!^  .ill  ■^|:•^«^m*^*|.«t1w»H•»4 'id>li»'»**»  •r;;A--!i'>  tmi>A  ^^';'f^     A-.vV.v.St 

t«c^.....    TROY  SWISS  MISSION  SOCIETY. 


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The  Troy  Swiss  Mission  Socikty  is  composed  of  Ladies  of  different  Protest, 
ant  denominations.  It  was  formed  at  the  Session-Room  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Ciiurch  of  Troy,  August  11th,  1842. 

The  following  are  the  Oiiicers  : 


"1 


!' 


Mes.  EMMA  WILLARD,  First  Directress; 
r«i  J    Mas.  MARY  CHURCH,  Second  Directress ; 
Mrs.  E.  M.  NORTON,  Secretary;  •  -    ■ 

Mas.  J.  D.  WILLARD,  Treasurer. 


-.\i 


Managers, 

Mrs.  N.  HINSDALE,  ./        ■,,  .  '        ,     ,  ,.  ,  ^, 

Mrs.  T.  B.  BIGELOW, 

Mrs.  WM.  NOYES,    ','■.,       .    ,     ^     .  ^.. 

Mrs.  a.  BARNES,  .  '     '         ,  , 

Mrs.  WILLARD. 

These  officers,  or  as  many  as  shall  meet  at  a  regularly  warned  meeting,  con- 
stitute a  Board  of  Managers. 


Mrs.  A.  SLASON, 
Mrs.  J.  S.  WEED, 
Miss  M.  E.  NORTON, 
Miss  C.  MALLARY, 
Miss  M.  HALL, 
Miss  BIGELOW, 
Mrs.  WINSLOW, 
Miss  J.  E.  KELLOGG, 


Collectors. 


Miss  E.  H.  WICKES, 
Miss  C.  BUEL, 
Miss  MYERS, 
Miss  M.  GEORGE, 
Miss.  A.  A.  CRANDALL, 
Miss  H.  W.  GARFIELD, 
Miss  CLEMENS, 
Miss  J.  TRUESDELL. 


At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Society,  holden  at  the  T. 
August  11th,  1843,  it  was  unanimously 


Female  Seminary, 


Resolved,  That  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beman  be  requested  to  deliver  a  Sermon,  in  order 
to  call  public  attention  to  the  importance  of  sustaining  the  Swiss  Mission  in  Ca- 
nada. 

■  *     4-^  '  -     ^ 

Dr.  Beman  consented ;  and  accordingly,  on  the  15th  instant,  preached  to  a  very 
large  and  attentive  audience.  On  the  16th,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Society,  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  communicate  to  Dr.  Beman  the  following  resolutions. 

Resolved,  That  the  Ladies  of  the  Troy  Swiss  Mission  Society,  present  their 
heartfelt  acknowledgement  of  gratitude  to  Dr.  Beman,  for  his  most  eloquent  and 
interesting  Discourse.  -  - 


ii 


Resolved,  That  it  is  our  desire  to  see  tho  Sormon  preached  by  Dr.  Beman,  in  • 
printed  form,  for  our  own  pleasure  nnd  instruction — that  we  may  have  an  opportiH 
nity  ol'  sending  it  to  our  friends— nnd,  also,  that  the  cause  it  so  ably  advocates,  majr 
thus  bo  iiindo  belter  known  to  the  public. 

The  committee  reported,  that  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  the  Society,  Dr. 
Ilcinuu  would  furnish  a  copy  of  the  Sermon  for  publication. 

1814.  The  celebration  of  tho  Society's  Anniversary  was,  for  reasons  of  conven- 
ience, deferred  until  Sunday  evening,  Dec.  0;  when  an  able  and  pertinent  discourse 
on  the  importance  of  Christian  UiNion,  in  making  known  tu  the  world  the  divine 
nnd  spiritual  nature  of  ChriMt's  Mission,  was  delivered  to  a  crowded  and  attentive 
audience,  by  tlie  Rev.  E.  W.  Andrews,  in  the  Second-street  IVesbyterian  Church. 
The  thanks  of  the  Society  was  communicated  to  Mr.  Andrews  with  the  request  of 
a  copy  of  his  sermon  for  publication,  which  he  declined. 

>  By  report  from  various'qunrters  we  learn  that  the  circulation  of  Dr.  Beman's 
"  Flea  for  the  Swiss  Mission  in  Canada,"  has  caused  some  Societies  to  be  formed 
in  aid  of  the  object  for  which  we  are  associated,  and  in  other  cases  the  sermon 
sent  with  the  Society's  short  appended  appeal  has  been  responded  to  by  money  or 
clothing  sent  to  us  fur  the  Mission,  and  by  us  forwarded  to  its  destination.  The 
first  edition  oflhe  "  Plea  "  being  wholly  expended,  and  calls  for  it  being  frequent, 
cspecinliy  as  public  attention  has  recently  been  attracted  by  extracts  and  encomi- 
ums, the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Troy  S.  M.  Society  have  therefore  procured 
the  printing  of  a  second  edition.  We  avail  ourselves  of  the  opportunity  to  show 
in  print  the  changes  which,  during  the  past  year  have  occurred  in  our  officers  (see 
preceding  page,)  and  also  to  fuliil  our  engagements  by  thankfully  reporting  receipts 
to  those  who  have  sent  contributions  through  us.  From  Mr.  Kidder's  Society  (Brat- 
tleboro,  Vt.)  we  received  a  box  of  articles  with  $r)  in  money.  From  Mrs,  Kinsley,  of 
West  Point,  $10.  From  Mrs.  Day  of  Cleveland  (Ohio,)  $10;  an  offeiing  from  her 
school.  From  an  unknown  friend  of  the  mis.sion,  (received  and  forwarded  by  the 
Secretary  in  the  absence  of  the  Treasurer,)  $30, 

The  Troy  S.  M.  Society  have  during  the  past  year,  from  their  own  collections, 
forwarded  to  Madame  Follor,  either  directly  or  through  W.  W.  Chester,  of  New- 
York,  SQOO  in  money  for  the  use  of  the  Mission,  besides  two  boxes  containing 
clothing  and  other  necessaries ;  and  the  receipts  for  the  present  year  to  be  imme- 
diately forwarded,  amount  to  more  than  $1<J0. 


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1 


DISCOURSE. 


5i#= — 


Piiii.iPPrANs  iv.  3.  And  I  entreat  thee  nlso,  true  yoke-fellow,  help  those  women 
which  labored  with  me  in  the  gospel,  with  Clement  aUo,  and  with  other  my  fel- 
luw-luburers,  whose  names  are  in  the  book  of  life. 

From  the  circumstances  in  which  I  am  placed 
this  evening,  I  am  called  upon  to  present  to  this  au- 
dience a  new  subject  of  Christian  beneficence; — and 
because  it  is  new,  and  in  order  that  it  may  be  the 
better  understood,  I  will  commence  my  address  with 
a  few  explanations  which  I  might  otherwise  postpone 
till  its  close.  I  am  about  to  spread  before  you  the 
claims  of  the  Swiss  Mission  in  Canada.  My  plea, 
however,  will  be  made  more  directly  in  behalf  of 
"  The  Troy  Swiss  Mission  SoctpTv,"  established  a 
little  more  than  a  year  since,  by  the  Ladies  of  this 
city,  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  in  missionary  labors  in 
that  country. 

On  this  point,  a  few  historical  items  will  suffice. 
The  mission  at  Grande  Ligne  was  commenced  in 
1835 — eight  years  since — by  M.  Louis  Roussy,  under 
a."  commission  from  the  Churches  of  Switzerland." 
This  place  is  situated  near  the  river  Richelieu,  the 


M 


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■*. 


outlet  of  lake  Clmmplain,  twenty  miles  from  the  line 
of  this  State,  and  ton  from  the  town  of  St.  Johns. 
Here  he  obtained  the;  post  of  a  sidioolniaster.  After 
two  months,  the  Catliohc  priest,  who  dreaded  the  ef- 
fects of  his  labors,  procured  his  removal  from  the  of- 
fice of  a  teacher.  He  had  found  by  visiting  from 
house  to  house,  that  not  more  than  owe  iny//ifa'»  could 
read. 

In  the  autumn  of  1836,  Madame  Feller,  a  devoted 
Christian,  who  had  left  Switzerland,  at  the  same  time 
and  for  the  same  purpose,  and  who  had  s])cnt  the 
winter  in  Montreal,  in  private  religious  instruction, 
removed  to  Grande  Ligne,and  opened  a  school,  while 
M.  Roussy  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  visiting  the 
people  and  communicating  religious  instruction.  Both 
of  them  were  exposed  to  severe  treatment  from  the 
exasperated  Catholics — savage  threats  were  uttered 
— their  place  of  worship  was  disturbed  by  noisy  and 
infuriated  mobs — and  M.  Roussy  was  himself  severe- 
ly beaten.  But  God  was  with  them,  and  quite  a 
number  of  people,  in  spite  of  the  priests,  became  obe- 
dient to  his  word.  The  only  place  that  Madame 
Feller  could  procure  for  a  school-room,  was  a  small 
garret,  where  she  taught  the  children  by  day,  and 
where  she  lodged  at  night.  The  heat  of  the  summer 
was  so  intense,  that  she  was  obliged  to  remove  her 
school  to  a  barn.  But  in  the  midst  of  all  these  labors 
and  discouraorements,  her  courajje  never  flajjired. 
She  opened  an  evening  school  for  adults,  in  which 
she  had  twelve  pupils, — while  a  considerable  num- 
ber attended  the  concluding  exercises  which  consist- 


the  line 

Johns. 

Aftor 

1  the  el- 

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n  could 


ed  in  reading  the  scriptures,  conversation  on  the  pas- 
sages read,  and  prayer.  In  addition  to  these  severe 
and  exhausting  lahors,  she  employed  all  her  time  not 
occupied  in  her  schools,  in  visiting  such  families  as 
were  willing  to  hear  the  scriptures  read. 

The  result  of  these  labors,  and  of  other  kindred 
sjnrits  associated  with  this  excellent  woman,  has  been 
such,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  as  we  might  anticipate. 
The  people  have  been  instructed,  and  aroused,  and 
many  converted  to  Christ.  They  have  now  a  large 
and  commodious  building  for  the  missionary  family, 
chapel  and  Normal  School.  The  influence  begins  to 
be  felt,  not  only  upon  the  neighboring  population,  but 
upon  many  other,  and  even  far  distant,  parts  of  Cana- 
da.    I  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  this  topic  again. 

The  character  and  labors  of  this  woman  will  ap- 
pear still  more  extraordinary,  if  we  advert  for  a  mo- 
ment to  her  previous  history.  She  was  a  native  of 
Lausanne,  in  Switzerland,  and  brought  up  in  culti- 
vated society.  Her  husband  was  "  chef  de  police," 
and  was  frequently  called  upon  to  punish  the  evan- 
gelical christians.  Early  one  Sunday  morning,  he 
received  an  order,  from  the  tribunal  of  ju&tice,  to  go 
to  a  certain  place  to  disperse  or  imprison  a  number 
who  had  met  to  worship  God.  In  speaking  of  this 
she  says,  "  He  left  the  house,  and  immediately,  like 
the  wife  of  Pilate,  I  was  seized  with  the  most  fearful 
misgivings.  I  felt  that  my  husband  was  sinning 
against  God  by  obeying  this  order.  My  anguish  was 
bitterly  increased  by  the  sudden  illness  of  my  sweet 
infant,  who  to  that  hour  had  been  in  perfect  health. 


8 


It  was  the  only  child  which  God  had  given  us." — 
When  her  husband  returned,  she  told  him  of  her  dis- 
tress, and  implored  him  to  give  up  his  office,  rather 
than  to  incur  the  necessity  of  sinning  against  God. 
She  was  not,  at  that  time,  a  christian. 

This  little  child,  about  three  years  old,  soon  after 
died  a  most  remarkable  death.  She  spoke  of  going 
home  to  God,  like  an  old  and  experienced  christian. 
Just  before  her  death,  she  said,  "  Do  not  weep  for  me, 
dear  mother.  God  will  take  care  of  you, — you  will 
love  God, — and  he  will  bless  you."  These  words, 
she  said,  proved  prophetic. 

She  became  acquainted,  at  this  period,  with  an 
evangelical  Protestant  minister,  who  was  of  greatser- 
vice  to  her  and  her  husband,  in  spiritual  things.    They 
both  became  interested  in  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
and  in  about  one  year  after  the  death  of  their  little 
child,   her   husband  died  in  the  triumphs  of  faith. 
Soon  after  this,  the  pastor  of  the  church  in  Lausanne, 
M.  Olivier,  and  his  wife,  had  made  up  their  minds  to 
leave  Switzerland,  and  devote  themselves  to  the  in- 
struction of  the  Catholics  in  France,  or  some  other 
country.     Madame  Feller  directed  their  attention  to 
Canada,  and  they  finally  concluded  to  adopt  her  sug- 
gestion.    Some  time  after,  when  her  husband's  three 
daughters  by  a  former  marriage,  were  settled  in  life, 
she  wrote  to  Madame  Olivier,  informing  her  that  she 
was  now  prepared  to  consecrate  herself  to  the  life  of 
a  missionary,  in  Canada,  if  an  opening  presented  it- 
self for  that  purpose.     But  before  that  letter  had  time 
to  arrive,  she  received  one  from  her  excellent  friend, 


o 


^ 


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9 

inviting  her  to  come  and  join  them  in  the  work  of  in- 
structing and  saving  the  ignorant  and  degraded  Ca- 
tholics of  Canada.  She  immediately  obeyed  the  in- 
timations of  Providence,  and  entered  upon  her  field 
of  christian  effort,  as  I  have  before  related.  Her 
friends,  M.  and  Mde.  Olivier,  were  compelled  to  re- 
turn to  their  native  country,  on  account  of  ill  health  ; 
but  Madame  Feller  resisted  all  their  entreaties,  and 
refused  to  go  with  them.  She  remained  with  a  full 
determination  to  labor  till  she  dies,  on  missionary 
ground,  and  especially  for  the  conversion  of  Roman 
Catholics.  This  purpose,  on  her  part,  would  seem 
to  be  of  heaven,  and  her  devoted  and  self-denying  la- 
bors have  airead  y  produced  an  unusual  amount  of 
good. 


The  words  I  have  selected,  as  my  text,  are  appro- 
priate, and  directly  suited  to  my  present  purpose. 
"And  I  entreat  thee,  true  yoke-fellow,  help  those 
women  which  labored  with  me  in  the  gospel,  with 
Cir^ment  also,  and  with  other  my  fellow-laborers, 
whose  names  are  in  the  book  of  life."  The  "  true 
yoke-fellow  "  here  addressed,  was  some  well  known 
and  eminent  christian  at  Philippi,  perhaps  the  pastor 
of  the  church.  The  pious  women  who  are  com- 
mended to  his  notice  and  kind  assistance,  are  men- 
tioned in  the  previous  verse :  "  I  beseech  Euodias, 
and  I  beseech  Syntyche,  that  they  be  of  the  same 
mind  in  the  Lord."  They  had  been  of  special  ser- 
vice to  the  apostles  in  planting  and  promoting  the 
cause  of  Christ.     He  characterizes  them,  as  "  those 


TP7«^Y 


#te- 


10 

women  who  labored  with  me  in  the  gospel."  The 
literal  translation  would  be, — "Help  these  women 
who,  for  the  gospel,  have  combatted  together  with  me!' 
They  stood  by  him  and  were  zealous,  and  became, 
no  doubt,  both  by  characteristic  modesty  and  decis- 
ion, female  champions  for  the  truth  of  God.  From 
some  cause,  they  seem  now  to  be  alienated,  either 
personally,  or  on  some  branch  of  christian  enterprise, 
— and  the  apostle  exhorts  them  to  be  of  one  heart 
and  purpose,  and  entreats  his  "true  yoke-fellow," 
who  is  supposed  by  some  to  have  been  the  husband 
of  one  of  them,  to  "help"  them  to  compose  their  dif- 
ferences,— or,  what  is  more  probable,  to  induce  them 
to  unite  their  eftbrts,  and  to  co-operate  in  promoting 
the  cause  of  Christ,  and  the  salvation  of  men.  "  I 
beseech  Euodias,  and  I  beseech  Syntyche,  that  they 
be  of  the  same  mind  in  the  Lord."  In  other  words, 
that  they  unite  in  the  work  of  God.  And  this  he 
more  especially  desired,  because  they  had  acted  a 
noble  part  in  relation  to  himself  With  that  sublime 
courage  which  the  gospel  inspires,  they  had  taken 
their  magnanimous  stand,  and  met  the  moral  combat, 
with  Clement,  and  other  fellow-laborers  whose  names 
were  in  the  book  of  life !  So  important  was  the  agen- 
cy of  these  excellent  women,  that  Paul  has  recorded 
the  fact,  for  the  instruction  of  others,  while  he  com- 
mended them  to  special  attention  and  favor  for  their 
kind  and  useful  labors. 

I  shall  attempt  to  show,  on  the  present  occasion, 
that  women  may  do  much  for  the  spread  of  the  gos- 


'W 


afjen- 


com- 
their 


f 


11 

pel ;  and  that  the  field  occupied  by  this  Society  is  one 
of  d<;i-      ind  special  interest. 

I.  Women  may  do  much  for  the  spread  of  the  gos- 
pel. 

It  is  not  necessary  here  to  discuss  the  comparative 
talents  of  the  sexes,  or  their  respective  influence  on 
the  destinies  of  our  world ;  nor  need  I  assert  the 
zfi?(ew,^i^?/ of  their  spheres  of  action.  There  are  some 
things,  that  woman  cannot  do.  There  are  some 
things  which  God  never  designed  her  to  do,  and 
which,  if  she  should  perform,  she  would  be  disrobed 
of  more  than  half  of  her  intellectual  and  moral  beau- 
ty. She  may  not  ascend  the  pulpit,  and  publicly 
proclaim  the  will  of  heaven.  She  may  not  become 
the  accredited  ambassador  of  Jesus  Christ  to  fallen 
men.  Her  sphere  is  not  marked  out,  by  the  finger 
of  God,  amid  the  busy  and  bustling  scenes  of  public 
life.  But  she  may  be,  and  she  has  often  been,  a  bright 
angel  of  mercy  to  a  disheartened  church  and  a  sinful 
world.  Even  the  strong  hand  and  giant  mind  of 
Paul  were  rendered  still  mightier  by  the  aid  of  wo- 
men ;  and  his  pious  and  gentle  heart  was  not  asham- 
ed to  record  the  fiict  on  the  inspired  page.  "  Help 
those  women  who  labored  together  with  me  in  the 
gospel."  Nor  is  this  a  solitary  instance  in  the  book  of 
God !  It  is  an  old  remark,  and  it  has  lost  nothing  by 
repetition,  that  "  women  were  last  at  the  cross,  and 
first  at  the  scpulclire."  Their  native  talents,  and 
their  peculiarly  sti-ong  susceptibilities,  when  un- 
der the  influence  of  piety,  qualify  them  to  do  many 


"1^- 


W^' 


H 


II 


12 

things  more  efficiently  than  they  are  generally 
done  by  men.  If  the  stream  of  their  influence  is 
comparatively  retired  and  silent  in  its  onward  flow, 
yet  it  is  pervading  and  powerful,  and  is  capable  of 
fertilizing,  or  desolating  a  world  !  Nor  is  there  any 
good  reason  why  it  should  be  so  retired,  and  so  silent, 
that  no  one  will  ever  see  it  or  hear  of  it,  or  find  it 
out.  It  was  certainl}'^  not  so  in  the  days  of  Paul ; 
and,  it  is  well  known,  that,  in  that  age,  woman,  by 
the  long  established  customs  of  society,  had  been  put 
in  the  back  ground,  and  was  kept  there, — at  least,  in 
relation  to  many  things  in  which  it  is  now  reputable 
for  her  to  stand  forth  in  a  blaze  of  light,  and  act  a 
conspicuous  and  prominent  part.  But  let  me  state  a 
few  distinct  particulars. 

Devoted  women  may  do  much  to  furnish  the 
means  for  sustaining  missions. 

The  gospel  cannot  be  sent  to  the  destitute  portions 
of  our  globe,  whether  they  are  pagan  or  nominally 
christian,  without  money.  Missionaries  are  gene- 
rally poor  and  unable  to  sustain  themselves.  They 
must  be  conveyed  to  their  destined  field  of  labor,  and 
they  must  be  fed  and  clothed  while  engaged  in  their 
work.  They  cannot  "leave  the  word  of  God  to 
serve  tables."  Nor  can  it  be  expected,  that  the  hea- 
then, or  others,  who  cherish  no  sympathy  for  them  or 
their  mission,  will  furnish  them  with  the  means  of 
support.  Nor  will  God  rob  his  people  of  '*  the  luxu- 
ry of  doing  good,"  by  supplying  their  wants  by  a 
special  miracle.  They  are,  then,  necessarily  thrown 
back  upon  the  benevolence  of  a  christian  communi- 


13 


enerally 
lence  is 
rd  flow, 
pable  of 
ere  any 
!0  silent, 
•  find  it 
)f  Paul ; 
man,  by 
^een  put 
least,  in 
eputable 
id  act  a 
le  state  a 

fiish   the 

portions 

ominally 

e    gene- 

They 

ibor,  and 

in  their 

God    to 

;he  hea- 

them  or 

leans  of 

le  luxu- 

its  by  a 

T  thrown 

immuni- 


ty ;  and  that  community,  in  every  ordinary  state  of 
feeling,  needs  both  information  and  excitement  in  or- 
der to  insure  the  discharge  of  duty.     The  great  in- 
terest must  be  spread  before  the  public,  not  merely 
in  formal  discourses,  but  it  must  be  talked  about  from 
house  to  house.     The  great  body  of  the  people  want 
heat ,  as  well  as  lights  in  order  to  act  up  to  the  high 
mark  of  the  divine  requirement.     And  who  can  make 
appeals  so  thrilling,  and  so  effectual,  and  so  irresista- 
ble,  as  that  sex  whose  hearts  are  strung  with  the 
more  vivid  and  active  sensibilities  of  our  nature,  and 
whose  very  tones  are  eloquence,  and  spontaneously 
body  forth  the  deep  feelings  of  the  inmost  spirit !    If 
I  wished  to  ask  back  my  forfeited  life,  even  from  a 
tyrant's  bloody  hand,  I  would  have  a  woman  to  beg 
for  me !     Her  logic  is  brief,  while  her  entreaties  are 
not  easily  shaken  off.     Let  this  sex,  warmed  by  the 
love  of  heaven,  and  deeply  commiserating  the  pre- 
sent degradation  and  the  fearful  prospects  of  the  be- 
nighted heathen,  or  the  hardly  less  benighted  papist, 
turn  tax- gatherers,  and  the  missionary  box  is  soon  fill- 
ed by  a  kind  of  voluntary  compulsion.     Not  only 
their  own  sex,  but  men  will  give; — some  because 
they  love  the  enterprise,  and  some  because  they  love 
ardor  and  energy  in  woman,  and  others  because  they 
are  ashamed  to  deny  the  request  of  a  lady.     The 
history  of  the  last  twenty-five  years,  if  it  were  writ- 
ten in  all  the  minuteness  of  detail,  would  show  the 
amazing  moral  power  of  the  female  sex  in  furnishing 
the  means  for  prosecuting  the  cause  of  christian  mis- 
Some  have  done  it  by  their  appeals  to  others, 


sions. 


li 


•  '!*' 


14 


some  by  their  own  liberality,  and  not  a  few  by  their 
deep  personal  self-deniuls.  !tv  f  ,.?  -.  .  ;  .  > 

Pious  females  can  do  much  to  promote  a  mission- 
ary spirit.    •    '  ;  ,,     - 

They  always  have  done  this.  If  woman  acted  a  con- 
spicuous part  in  the  ruin  of  our  world,  so  she  has  in  its 
redemption.  I  love  to  read  the  story  of  those  good  wo- 
men who  followed  Jesus  Christ  from  place  to  place, 
and  ministered  to  the  wants  of  this  heavenly  mission- 
ary;— and  of  those  "honorable  women,"  "not  a  few," 
who  believed  the  gospel,  and  stood  by  the  first  mis- 
sionaries of  the  cross,  even  when  the  storms  of  per- 
secution gathered  around  tlu3m,  and  beat  upon  their 
holy  heads!  To  say  nothing  here  of  the  peculiar 
power  of  woman  to  plead  with  eloquence  and  effect, 
the  cause  of  moral  refinement  and  heavenly  truth,  to 
which  I  have  already  adverted,  who  can  be  inpelled 
to  this  work  by  stronger  motives,  than  those  which 
are  addressed  to  her?  It  is  only  under  the  form  of 
a  pure,  evangelical  Christianity,  that  woman  is  per- 
mitted to  take  her  own  proper  rank  in  society,  and 
to  enjoy  those  rights  which  God  has  secured  to  her 
by  the  constitution  of  nature,  and  in  his  own  written 
laws.  The  Pagan  female  is  a  slave,  and  the  Catholic 
is  but  little  better.  If  you  will  look  the  world  over 
with  an  impartial  eye,  I  challenge  you  to  deny  the 
truth  of  this  remark.  Paganism  and  Romanism  have 
always  had  the  heart  intensely  fixed  on  a  common 
object — the  exaltation  of  the  priesthood  in  connexion 
with  the  political  power,  and  the  depression  of  the 
people.    And  wherever  the  people,  as  such,  have 


I 


m- 


15 

been  crushed  by  the  combined  powers  of  church  and 
state,  there  individual  tyrants  have  trodden  upon  the 
rights,  and  spurned  the  virtues  of  woman.  Look  over 
the  beniijhted  realms  of  Paranism,  and  let  the  heart 
bleed  for  the  female  sex.  Here  is  a  dark  picture  of 
tyranny  and  suffering.  Look  over  those  populous 
lands  where  an  impure  and  false  Christianity  has 
blighted  every  thing  fair  and  promising  in  society, 
and  where  w^ill  you  find  females  ?  What  rank  do 
they  sustain ;  and  what  is  their  moral  character  1  I 
speok  not o[i?irUviduals,  hut  o[  the  mass!  You  will 
find  them  in  the  field  holding  in  the  hand  the  imple- 
ments of  husbandry,  or,  upon  the  high-way,  occupy- 
ing the  place  of  beasts  of  burden.  And  what  is  wo- 
man in  the  hands  of  a  corrupt  priesthood  ?  I  would 
not  own  a  sister,  or  a  mother,  or  a  daughter,  who 
would  go  to  "THE  CONFESSIONAL,"  and  answer  the 
questions  which  must  be  propounded  at  that  stall  of 
Belial ! 

Pious  and  devoted  females  have  ever  done  much 
for  the  gospel,  by  their  fervent  and  eifectual  prayers. 

The  comparatively  retired  and  secluded  condition 
of  woman,  is  favorable  to  this  duty.  And  so  is  the 
very  character  of  the  female  heart,  when  effectually 
imbued  with  the  grace  of  God.  It  was  a  praying 
Hannah  who  gave  a  Samuel  to  the  church.  The 
mother  of  Samuel  J.  Mills  was  emphatically  a  woman 
of  praj^er ;  and  to  her  heavenly  spirit, — that  spirit 
which  sympathized  with  dying  men,  the  world  over, 
and  flew  to  God  for  strength  and  succor, — the  cause 
of  modern  missions  owes  one  of  its  strongest   and 


16 


brightest  ohampions.  Let  those  who  love  God,  and 
feel  a  thrill  of  deep  emotion  as  they  contemplate  the 
heaven-born  enterprise  of  a  world's  salvation,  put  a 
special  honor  upon  prayer.  Ask  for  large  blessings, 
for  God  can  give  them.  Bathe  your  hearts,  and  bathe 
a  dying  world  in  this  element ;  and  live  on  your 
knees.  If  you  have  but  little  to  give,  and  if  you  can- 
not fly  to  the  rescue  of  the  benighted  and  dying 
yourselves — you  can  pray: — and  God  can  hear. 
Read  the  story  of  the  Syroplicenician  woman,  and 
never  cease  to  plead  with  the  compassionate  Saviour, 
till  your  voice  is  heard  in  heaven,  and  till  light  and 
peace,  as  a  bright  and  beauteous  mantle,  shall  cover 
the  earth. 

Women  make  good  missionaries. 

I  was  about  to  say,  they  make  the  best  missiona- 
ries,— and  in  their  own  sphere,  they  do.  They  are 
not,  as  I  have  before  asserted,  the  public  heralds  of 
the  cross,  but  their  auxiliary  labors  in  prosecuting 
missions,  are  just  as  needful,  and,  indeed,  just  as  in- 
dispensable, as  in  any  home-enterprise,  connected 
with  the  same  deep  and  heavenly  interest.  All  ef- 
forts for  the  gospel,  so  far  as  human  agencies  are  con- 
cerned, prove  ineffectual,  where  the  combined  pow- 
ers of  the  female  sex  are  enlisted  on  the  opposite 
side.  The  moral  and  religious  state  of  every  com- 
munity may  be  estimated,  with  some  degree  of  pre- 
cision, from  the  moral  and  religious  character  of  wo- 
men. This  is  true  every  where.  But  in  the  pres- 
ent train  of  thought,  let  us  fix  the  eye  especially  on 
the  important  and  interesting  relations  which  they 


M 


17 


iissiona- 


sustain  to  christian  missions.  I  mean  their  personal 
relations,  as  teachers  of  the  gospel.  I  speak  not  now 
of  puhllc  preaching.  There  are  many  other  lessons 
to  be  inculcated  than  those  which  are  proclaimed 
from  the  pulpit.  It  is  so  in  all  communities,  but  es- 
pecially so  among  the  unevangelized  and  ignorant. 
Woman  is  a  teacher  from  the  very  position  which 
God  has  assigned  her.  The  mother  moulds  the  in- 
fant mind.  She  watches  the  opening  bud  of  child- 
hood, and,  under  God,  gives  the  sunshine  and  the 
showers,  and  the  gentle  distilling  dews,  which  ex- 
pand its  infantile  beauties  into  full  bloom.  Nor  is 
she  an  incomjietent  teacher  in  maturer  years.  But 
those  qualities  which  prepare  her  to  be  the  very  best 
teacher  of  the  young,  and  especially  in  tlie  great 
principles  of  piety  and  virtue,  are  the  very  ones 
which  fit  her  for  the  missionary  enterprise.  She  is 
"  apt  to  teach," — fond  of  detail, — minute  and  copious 
and  patient  in  explanation, — and,  withal,  when  the 
heart  has  fully  fastened  on  its  object,  and  all  its  im- 
mortal and  glowing  energies  have  fully  resolved  upon 
success,  she  is  persevering  and  indefatigable  to  the 
very  death  !  These  are  the  characteristics  needed 
in  a  missionary  among  the  uninstructed  every  where. 
In  religion,  the  unevangelized  world  are  all  children^ 
and  they  need  a  mother's  tongue  to  teach  them. 
They  need  her  smiles,  and  tears,  and  counsels. 
They  need  her  gentle  hand  to  lead  them  alono- 
through  the  first  principles  of  the  oracles  of  God, 
and  her  kind  wing  to  shelter  them,  when  impendinf/ 
dangers  threaten,  and  when  sweeping  storms   pass 


18 

by.  They  need  every  thing  that  belongs  to  the  tex- 
ture of  woman's  mind,  when  irradiated  by  the  hght 
of  heaven;  and  every  thing  that  reigns  in  woman's 
hearty  when  melted  by  the  love  of  Christ;  and  every 
thing  that  can  be  elotjuently  uttered  by  woman's 
lips,  when  *  touched  by  a  live  coal  from  off  the  altar 
of  God.*  Such  a  missionary  was  Harriet  Newell, 
whose  body,  when  her  work  was  finished,  mingled 
with  kindred  dust,  in  the  island  of  Madagascar,  em- 
bosomed in  the  great  Indian  Ocean, — and  such  a 
missionory  is  Madame  Feller,  who,  with  a  zeal  and 
faith  inspired  of  Heaven,  and  with  a  self-denial  un- 
paralleled in  modern  times,  is  devoting  herself  to 
the  instruction  and  salvation  of  the  Catholics  in  Can- 
ada. In  writing  the  history,  or  the  epitaph,  of  either 
of  these  women,  it  would  hardly  be  extravagant  to 
copy  the  encomium  pronounced  by  our  Saviour  on 
one  of  the  Marys, — "  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  whereso- 
ever this  gospel  shall  be  preached,  in  the  whole 
world,  there  shall  also  this  that  this  woman  hath  done, 
be  told  for  a  memorial  of  her." 

Permit  me  to  remark — 

II.  That  the  field  occupied  by  this  Society,  is  one 
of  deep  and  special  interest. 

I  have  given  you  a  few  facts  respecting  the  Swiss 
INIission  in  Canada.  It  is  so  peculiar  in  its  origin, 
that  we  can  see  the  hand  of  God  in  it ;  it  is  impera- 
tively called  for  by  the  state  of  the  people  among 
whom  it  is  established,  and  for  whose  instruction  and 
salvation  it  is  designed ;  and  the  enterprise  has  been 
already  most  signally  blessed.     I  am  quite  sure,  that 


19 

no  real  christian — that  no  lover  of  God  or  man — can 
look  at  this  enterprise,  in  all  its  lights  and  hearings, 
without  wishing  to  sustain  an  humble  part  in  its  j)re- 
sent  conflicts,  and  its  future  and  prospective  glory. 
It  may  appear  small  in  itself — a  mere  speck  on  the 
globe — but  it  has  relations  almost  infinite  ;  it  stands 
connected  with  subjects  of  deepest  interest  and  of 
largest  magnitude,  and  the  discussion  of  which  is  ex- 
citing, and  even  agitating  and  shaking  the  world. 
There  is  no  interest  of  time  or  eternity — no  comfort 
of  earth,  or  hope  of  heaven,  or  song  of  future  triumph, 
at  least,  so  far  as  some  of  our  fellow  beings  arc  con- 
cerned, but  may  depend  on  the  existence  and  prose- 
cution of  this  mission.  Let  me  give  you  a  mere  out- 
line of  a  train  of  thought  which  you  can  pursue,  to  a 
greater  extent  for  yourselves,  and  which  can  hardly 
fail  of  enlisting  your  holy  sensibilities,  and  of  secur- 
ing your  active  co-operation  in  this  "labor  of  love." 

I.  The  Swiss  Mission  in  Canada  involves  the 
great  question  now  before  the  church  and  the  world. 

It  is,  at  this  day,  and  ever  has  been  a  complex 
question, — a  question  of  religion,  and  a  question  of 
politics.  The  line  that  separates  a  pure  Protestant 
Christianity  from  Romanism,  is  the  most  distinct  and 
the  deepest  moral  line  ever  drawn  upon  the  surface 
of  human  society.  Upon  the  one  side  of  this  line,  as 
a  general  fact,  we  find  the  love  of  liberty,  and  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  its  actual  enjoyment, — men- 
tal cultivation, — a  regard  for  the  rights  of  man, — 
freedom  of  thought  and  freedom  of  discussion, — and 
submission  to  the  Bible,  as  the  only  source,  and  the 


20 


only  standard,  infulllbli',  iiivjiriiiblc  and  eternal,  of 
reliiiious  truth  ; — on  the  other  t^ide,  at  least,  so  lar  aa 
to  be  ehuraeteiistlc,  we  have  popular  ionovjinee  and 
an  overvvhehningtorrentot'  popular  viee  and  crime, — 
a  total  disregard  for  freedom  and  the  rights  of  man, 
in  the  upper  stratum  of  society,  and  a  blind  and 
cringing  subniissLon  to  authority  in  the  lower, — tyran- 
ny in  every  hideous  juid  every  hateful  form, — the  sur- 
render of  the  right  of  private*  judgment  in  matters  of 
religion, — an  arrogant  priesthood,  intermeddling  with 
every  thing  but  their  own  a})propriate  business, — 
obtruding  themselves  into  courts  and  cabinets, — 
touching  the  hidden  springs,  and  pulling  the  subtle 
wires  of  legislation, — themselves  voluntarily  exscinded 
from  all  the  charities  of  domestic  life,  yet  worming 
themselves  into  the  secrets  of  familicjs,  by  a  commis- 
sion stolen  from  heaven, — meting  out  the  awards  of 
bliss  and  woe,  of  heaven  and  hell,  by  the  poise  of  the 
money-scales, — and  shoulderino:  aside  the  word  of 
God,  and  foisting  into  its  place,  as  the  rule  of  faith 
and  life,  a  crude  mass  of  silly  and  endless  traditions! 
This  is  not  a  picture,  but  a  mere  sketchy — honest  in- 
deed, and  true,  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  meagre  to  very 
poverty  !  If  this  sketch  were  filled  up,  and  the  ap- 
propriate colorings  super-added,  no  eye  could  gaze 
upon  it,  without  carrying  home  to  tne  heart  the  thrill- 
ing interest  of  its  moral  power.  We  should  scc  ilv- 
evils  which  are  to  be  removed  on  the  one  ban  ,  antl 
the  blessings  which  are  to  be  secured  on  the  other, 
as  the  beiiign  and  magnificent  results  of  Protestant 
missions.     But  what  1  have  said,  is  not  "  the  hegin' 


i/' 


m 


r^ 


21 

niftf^  of  the  end  "  of  what  slmiild  be  said,  on  this  Rub- 
ject,  iC  there  was  tilj-o  to  tell  the  whole  story.     Satan 
never  gained  a  more  sJLrnal  triumjib  in  our  world, 
than  when  he  coiitri     d  Ilomaii  ,sm,  and  baptized  it 
witli  a  christian  name,  a/id    '"^n  palmed  it  oH,  upon 
its  deluded  votaries,  as  the    religioM  of  the   Son  of 
God.     The  intellectual  and  pious  Cecil  used  to  call 
Popery, "  the  devil's  master-piece," — and  it  may  be 
BO  called  without  a  figure  of  speech.     As  tl'.;  gos- 
pel is  an  advance  upon  Judaism,  and  the  revelations 
ol  tlie  New  Testament  exceed  in  radiance  and  i;lory 
the  revelations  of  the  Old,  so  Popery  is  a  refinement 
upon  Paganism,  in  order  to  meet  tbe  exigency  of  the 
case,  and  forestall  the  conversion  of  men.  and  the 
progress  of  holiness  on  the  earth.     The  dee  >  shades 
of  heathenism  were  quite  sufficient  to  obscure,  with 
regard  to  a  large  portion  of  our  world,  the  pnle  star- 
light of  the  o/^  revelation;  but  the  still  dense  r  and 
darker  shades  of  Romanism  were  demanded,  in  order 
to  shut  out  the  brilliant  sun-light  of  the  7ieio.     This 
latter  system,  if  profoundly  studied  and  fully  under- 
stood, will  be  found  to  contain  in  itself  the  concei  tra- 
tion  of  all  the  abominations  of  Paganism  and  Infiflel- 
ity,  mysteriously  and  intimately  combined.     Those 
who  have  looked  at  this  subject  only  as  superficial 
thinker-i,  may  consider  these  remarks  too  intense,  a.  id 
tinctured  with  severity  ;  but  those  who  have  atten- 
tively studied  the  page  of  ecclesiastical  history,  and 
have  gone  down  in  their  researches,  into  the  pro- 
found depths  of   "  the  mystery  of  iniquity,"  know, 
that   they  contain  "  the  words  of  truth  and  sober- 
ness." 


\% 


22 

And  this  is  tlie  grand  question  before  the  world. 
Europe  is  all  alive  to  it.  The  united  kingdom  of 
Great  Britain  .vill  yet  be  shaken  to  its  centre  by  it. 
All  Papal  Europe  is  on  the  alert,  and  sending  out 
their  Jesuits  and  other  emissaries  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth,  and  expending  their  money,  with  a  liberality 
unparralleled,  in  order  to  bring  the  world  under  the 
power  of  the  mitre  and  the  triple  crown.  This 
country  too  spreads  out  a  field  of  mighty  conflict. 
The  shock  must  come.  The  decisive  moral  battle 
will  be  fought, — and  the  question,  full  of  import,  and 
prophetic  of  life  or  death,  whether  this  country  and 
other  protestant  countries  shall  become  like  Italy, 
and  France,  and  Spain,  and  Ireland,  and  Canada, 
and  South  America, — or  whether  those  countries  and 
the  other  dominions  of  "  the  man  of  sin,"  who,  by  a 
misnomer,  has  been  called  "  his  HoHness,"  shall  be- 
come, in  civil,  political  and  religious  freedom, — in  ed- 
ucation, virtue  and  piety,  like  this  Protestant  Repub- 
lic— must  be  decided  !  The  question  fnai/  be  decided 
soon.  If  you  would  have  it  settled  according  to  the 
first  position,  you  should  give  your  spare  money  to 
build  Catholic  Churches,  and  to  support  in  various 
ways,  an  arrogant  and  exclusive  priesthood, — if  you 
would  have  it  settled  according  to  the  last,  and  see 
the  entire  surface  of  our  globe  radiant  with  light, 
and  covered  with  a  population,  intellectual,  pious 
and  happy — 

"  Such  as  earth 
Saw  never,  such  as  heaven  stoops  down  to  see," 

then  come  and  aid  a  mission  which  has  its  eye  and 
heart  fixed  on  these  transcendant  and  God-like  results ! 


i ' 


23 

2.  The  present  state  of  Canada  gives  a  peculiar 
interest  to  this  enterprise. 

I  refer  especially  to  the  Catholic  population,  the 
descendants  of  the  original  French  settlers  of  that 
country.  There  is  no  part  of  the  globe  where  chris- 
tian missions  are  more  needed,  and  where  even  the 
temporal  results  would  be  more  perceptible  and 
more  salutary.  The  Papal  system  has  had  an  op- 
portunity for  a  fair  experiment  in  Canada.  The 
country  itself  may  compare  very  well  with  many 
parts  of  New-England, — but  mark  the  contrast  in 
every  thing  that  belongs  to  man  as  a  social  and 
moral  being.  Quebec  was  settled  twelve  years  be- 
fore the  pilgrims  of  the  May-Flower  planted  their  feet, 
as  the  champions  of  a  free  Christianity,  on  the  rock 
of  Plymouth:  and  yet  how  different  the  histories  of 
these  adventurers!  The  Protestant  pilgrims  became 
giants ;  and  their  progeny  have  filled  the  land,  and 
are  scaling  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  are  traveling- 
down  the  slope  toward  the  great  Pacific.  And  they 
have  scattered  schools,  and  colleges,  and  churches,  all 
along  their  pathway.  The  land  is  filled  with  an  in- 
tellectual, a  free,  a  religious,  and  a  happy  people. 
But  what  is  the  state  of  Canada?  The  inhabitants 
are  just  what  they  were,  in  1608,  when  the  country 
was  first  settled.  For  more  than  two  centuries  they 
have  not  made  an  inch  of  progress  in  any  thing  either 
honorable,  or  profitable  to  man.  And  whyt  Not 
because  the  race  is  infei-ior  to  other  men.  No  nation 
have  better  physical  or  intellectual  frames,  than  the 
French.     But  they  are   kept  in  ignorance  by  the 


# 


24 

priesthood,  and  deluded  and  robbed  by  their  mum- 
merles  ; — and  there  they  are,  stationary,  and  stereo- 
typed in  their  own  unvaried  httlcness.  Letters  and 
science,  and  the  ornamental  arts,  are  confined  to  the 
few,  and  these  are  infidels,  while  the  many — the 
peasantry,  are  good  Catholics,  and  jog  along,  under 
their  ghostly  drivers,  as  their  own  cattle  do,  under 
their  lash,  without  one  improvement,  in  any  thing, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  a  century. 

But  the  spell  is  broken.  The  people  are  not  at 
rest.  They  begin  to  distrust  a  lazy  and  luxurious — a 
Bible-hating  and  a  Bible-burning  priesthood.  There 
are  symptoms  that  the  sleep  of  death  has  ended  with 
many,  and  that  a  resurrection  has  already  begun  in 
this  great  moral  grave-yard.  There  never  was  a 
time  since  that  country  was  colonized,  when  offorts 
for  instructing  and  convertinof  the  Catholics,  were  so 
likely  to  be  crowned  with  success,  as  the  present. 
"  The  fields  are  already  white  to  the  harvest." 

3.  This  mission  makes  a  very  tender  and  a  very 
powerful  appeal  to  the  females  of  our  country. 

Indeed,  I  might  say,  that  this  appeal  is  made  to  all 
who  appreciate  and  love  female  worth,  as  well  as  to 
females  themselves.  The  founder  of  the  mission  and 
school  at  "  Grande  Ligne,"  is  one  of  the  most  extra- 
ordinary women  of  the  age.  She  was  long  satisfied 
with  the  religion  of  mere  form ;  but  when  she  saw 
her  own  character  as  a  sinner,  and  found  pardon  and 
peace  in  a  Saviour's  blood,  she  could,  never  rest  till 
she  consecrated  herself  wholly  to  the  instruction  and 
salvation  of  those  who  were  the  victims  of  that  delu- 


25 

sion  from  which  she  had  been,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
deUvered.  **  The  love  of  Christ  constrained  her." 
Under  this  impulse,  she  left  her  friends  and  home, 
and  the  svvt3et  ronuintic  sctiics  of  Iku"  native  land,  and 
sought,  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  wave,  a  missionary 
field  where  she  might  honor  Christ,  and  save  sinners, 
and  gratify  the  expansive  charity  of  her  warm  and 
devoted  heart.  The  Catholic  population  of  Canada, 
attracted  her  eye,  and  controlled  her  decisions, 
probably  from  such  <;onsi(lcration8  as  these : — 
The  Frencli  lanouaije  was  her  native  tonijue, — this 
field  might  be  more  promising  than  some  others,  in 
as  much  as  it  lay  remote  from  the  stronsf  influences 
of  Papal  Europe, — and  "  last,  not  least,"  the  condition 
of  the  Canadians,  social,  moral  and  religious,  was 
such  as  to  reach  the  sensibilities,  and  move  the  com- 
miseration of  any  heart  warmed  by  the  love  of  heav- 
en. This  condition  she  understood,  for  she  had 
studied  it :  and  she  entered  upon  the  work  with  a 
consecration,  a  faith,  and  an  ardor,  so  truly  apostolic, 
as  to  excite  the  admiration  of  all  who  know  any 
thing  of  her  former  nnd  present  history.  She  once 
moved  in  elevated  circles, — lived  in  competency, — 
and  enjoyed  the  blessings  of  home  and  friends. 
The  spoiler  came,  as  I  have  before  related,  and  the 
scene  was  changed.  The  storm  swept  over  her  lit- 
tle sacred  enclosure,  and  desolation  followed.  But 
o-race  sanctified  these  alllictions,  and  she  consecrated 
herself  wholly  to  the  one  sole  object  of  imparting  light 
and  life  to  the  Catholics.  She  seems  never  to  have  turn- 
ed her  eye  or  heart  from  this  object  since  it  first  occu- 


26 

pied  and  filled  her  thoughts.  She  has  planted  a  mis- 
sion and  a  school  at  Grande  Ligne — where,  in  con- 
junction with  others,  she  is  performing  a  greater 
amount  of  lahor,  physical,  intellectual  and  spiritual, 
probably,  than  any  woman  living.  In  connection  with 
this  mission,  other  schools  and  stations  are  established, 
in  different  parts  of  the  country.  Of  the  happy  ef- 
fects which  have  already  followed  these  truly  christian 
efforts,  I  shall  speak  more  particularly  hereafter. 
My  object  now  is  to  present  before  you  the  venera- 
able  and  devoted  founder  of  this  mission,  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  asking  you  to  settle,  in  your  own  minds, 
and  by  your  own  acts,  the  question — whether  a  wo- 
man of  this  sublime  moral  heroism, — of  these  active 
and  living  energies, — of  these  transcendant  and  self- 
sacrificing  deeds — shall  be  sustained  ?  I  fear,  that  I 
shall  not  be  considered  as  paying  even  an  ordinary 
tribute  to  the  female  sex,  by  propounding  a  ques- 
tion which  may  seem  to  imply  a  doubt,  on  this  point. 
If  she  has  forsaken  home  and  kindred  and  country, 
and  encountered  the  hardships  and  the  dangers  of 
the  ocean,  and  buried  herself  among  the  uncultivated 
and  ignorant,  where  her  exertions  tax  every  power, 
and  her  accommodations  are  mean  and  scanty, — 
shall  it  be  considered  a  great  thing,  that  we  expect 
the  ladies  of  this  country  to  feel  for  their  own  neigh- 
bors, and  sympatliize  with  a  christian  adventurer  of 
their  own  sex,  from  a  far  distant  kind,  whose  every 
power  and  every  purpose  is  rendered  subservient  to 
the  noble  object  of  elevating  their  intellectual  and 
social  condition,  and  of  saving  their  souls?     I  anr 


27 


sure  you  will  discharge  your  duty,  in  this  matter,- 
nor  would  I  seem  to  detract  from  the  value  of  your 
doings,  by  interposing  a  formal  plea  in  order  to  incite 
you  to  action.  Nor  will  men  refuse,  by  their  benefi- 
cence, to  cheer  the  heavonly  spirit  of  such  a  wo- 
man,— one  who  is  making  greater  exertions,  and  se- 
curing more  blessed  results,  than  one  man  in  a 
thousand  has  ever  done,  even  among  those  who  have 
filled  the  sacred  office. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  say,  that  the  mis- 
sion is  deeply  in  want.  I  am  fully  persuaded,  that 
no  funds  for  the  enlargement  of  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  can  be  more  profitably  expended,  than  by 
sustaining  this  enterprise.  Nor  can  the  work  already 
so  successfully  begun,  be  carried  on  and  consum- 
mated, without  an  increase  of  means.  The  school  is 
thronged  with  children  from  the  families  of  convert- 
ed Catholics,  and  the  place  is  too  strait  for  them. 
They  wish  to  enlarge  their  accommodations,  that 
they  may  do  good  upon  a  more  extended  scale,  and 
impart  spiritual  light  to  those  who  are  perishing  "  for 
lack  of  knowledge."  The  female  sex  should  come 
up  to  the  help  of  this  devoted  and  heavenly-spirited 
woman.  Some,  and,  indeed  not  a  few,  are  doing  it. 
I  have  been  much  gratified  to  learn,  that  the  Young 
Ladies  of  the  Female  Seminary  of  this  city,  have  pre- 
pared, with  their  own  hands,  a  large  and  valuable  box 
of  clothing  for  this  school  and  mission.  It  will  prove, 
I  trust,  an  offering  "  acceptable  tcj  God,  and  approved 
of  men."  In  what  we  do,  in  this  truly  christian  en- 
terprise, we  must  not  forget,  that  the  undertaking  is 


28 


I. 


a  great  one.  The  whole  country  needs  an  entire  re- 
volution ;  and  the  agencies  deiniuided  for  its  accom- 
plishment are  not  to  be  found  there.  They  must 
come  from  abroad, — from  Protestant  Europe  and 
Protestant  America. 

4.  The  mission  has  been  alrea<ly  greatly  blessed. 

The  impress  of  heaven's  broad  and  Ixvauteous  seal 
is  on  it.  The  Son  of  God  has  i'ullillctl  his  promise, 
and  been  with  his  faithful  and  devotiul  servants,  in 
this  important  harvest  f>eld.  For  tlie  lirst  time,  after 
a  long  and  dark  night  of  more  tlian  two  centuries, 
the  day-star  has  arisen,  and  the  morning  begins  to 
dawn  on  Canada  !  A  spirit  of  religious  inquiry,  be- 
fore unknown,  has  been  awakcuKMl,  jiniong  that  peo- 
ple, which  all  the  cunning,  and  all  the  malice  of  the 
priests,  will  not  be  able  to  allay.  The  people  begin 
to  feel,  that  they  need  the  bread  of  life,  and  God  is 
sendinjT  it  to  them.  The  mission  at  (ininde  Ligne 
is  a  centre  of  spiritual  light  jiikI  liciit,  IV(uu  wliich  ra- 
diations of  heavenly  influence  aiugoii.  ^oul,  in  every 
direction,  over  "  the  length  and  bi-eadth  of  the  land." 
On  this  spot  they  are  educating  teachers  and  colpor- 
teurs who  shall  hereafter  go  fordi,  and  scatter  the 
good  seed — letters  smd  Bible  truth — over  all  Canada. 
And  the  work  has  already  begun.  The  priests  are 
alarmed;  and  persecution,  the  old  argument  of  "  the 
man  of  sin,"  has  blown  its  trumpet,  and  kindled  its 
fires.  Schools  and  preaching  stations  are  establish- 
ed, not  only  in  populous  places,  but  among  the  cabins 
in  the  woods, — and,  at  all  these,  the  gosp(;l  is  achiev- 
ing wonders.     I  wish  I  had  time  to  go  into  detail,  but 


29 


I  can  only  give  you  a  few  prominent  facts,  as  speci- 
mens of  many  more  of  a  like  character. 

At  Grande  Ligne,  according  to  the  report  for  the 
present  year,  they  number  sixty  converts,  and  the  con- 
gregations vary  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty. 
The  primary  school  contains  from  thirty  to  forty 
pupils,  and  the  Normal  school  fourteen.  The  mis- 
sionary corps  is  now  composed  of  Madame  Feller, 
Monsieur  and  Madame  Normandeau,  Mademoiselle 
Jointe, — who  is  assisted  in  lier  school  by  Hortense 
Brissette,  one  of  the  pupils, — the  Rev.  Louis  Roussy, 
and  one  colporteur,  who  travels  in  the  vicinity  within 
a  radius  of  ten  leagues. 

At  Chazy,  established  about  two  years  since,  the 
church  numbers  twenty  members  :  the  average  num- 
ber of  the  hearers  of  the  word,  is  thirty.  The  act- 
ing missionary  is  Dr.  Cote,  who  bore  a  prominent 
part  in  the  rebellion, — once  a  Catholic,  but  when  he 
became  educated  and  saw  their  abominations  and 
fooleries,  an  infidel ;  and  now  a  truly  converted  man, 
and  a-  zealous  preacher  of  the  pure  gospel  of  the  Son 
of  God.  He  has,  in  different  capacities,  three  assist- 
ants. 

The  station  at  St.  Pie,  established  at  an  earlier  pe- 
riod than  the  above  named,  numbers  twenty-eight 
members,  and  the  school  has  thirty  scholars. 

The  station  at  Berea,  established  more  than  a  year 
since,  numbers  thirty-two  members,  and  has  thirty- 
five  scholars  in  the  school! 

But  these  missionary  stations  are  not  all.  The  de- 
voted friends  of  Christ  of  whom  I  am  speaking,  and 


80 


^ 


ti 


whom  you  are  endeavoring  to  assist,  and  others  en- 
gaged in  the  same  work,  are  scattering  the  beams  of 
heavenly  day  over  these  broad  realms  of  night. 
Preachers  and  colporteurs  are  traversing  the  land  in 
every  direction,  diffusing  mercy  in  their  progress,  in- 
tent on  the  single  object  of  giving  the  pure  word  of 
God  to  this  blind  and  benighted  people.  And  they 
are  fast  accomplishing  their  object.  Already  in  the 
remote  and  rude  cabin,  embosomed  in  the  wilder- 
ness, may  be  heard  the  voice  of  these  Bible-readers ; 
and  the  old  primitive  forest  almost  daily  resounds 
with  the  joyous  accents  of  a  preached  gospel. 

Nor  shall  we  duly  appreciate  these  truly  christian 
labors,  unless  we  hx  our  eye  on  the  real  condition  of 
the  people.  We  must  see  them  as  they  are.  He- 
collect  that  they  are  called  christians,  and  this  is  the 
nineteenth  century — and  they  were  planted  as  a  co- 
lony, from  one  of  the  oldest  nominally  christian  king- 
doms of  Europe.  And  what  is  their  present  state? 
Not  more  than  one  in  fifteen  can  read,  while  scarce- 
ly any  can  write.  Madame  Feller,  on  a  certain 
occasion,  read  the  Bible  to  a  man  and  his  wife, 
and  when  she  had  concluded,  they  acknowledged, 
that  now,  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives,  they  had 
heard  the  gospel  read.  The  husband  was  over  sixty 
years  old. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Tanner,  who  has  traveled  as  an 
agent  in  the  country,  says — "  The  greatest  part  are 
blindly  submissive  to  their  priests,  and  believe,  that 
they  themselves  can,  and  ought  to  atone  for  their 
sins,  by  penances,  and  by  giving  money  to  say  mass- 


I 


31 

es.  The  most  part  of  the  penances  which  the  priests 
impose,  consist  in  reciting  in  Latin,  paters  and  ave 
Marias.  They  beheve,  that  there  are  men  cho' ored 
into  howhng  wolves  and  long-tailed  beasts  ;  that  on 
All  Saints'  day,  the  dead  leave  purgatory  and  walk 
on  the  earth,  and  that  blood  would  spring  up,  if  a 
Roman  Catholic  should  dig  in  it. 

"As  Lent  is  for  them  a  time  of  penance,  they  dare 
not  then  play  for  money,  but  some  of  them  play  for 
prayers,  that  is,  that  he  that  loses  shall  recite  a  cer- 
tain number  of  prayers,  which  God  will  place  to  the 
credit  of  the  winner.  Many  of  them  wear  medals 
and  other  things  to  jjreserve  them  from  evil." 

One  missionary  laborer  says, — "  Several  persons 
forbade  me  to  read  the  Bible  to  them,  believing,  that 
as  soon  as  it  was  opened,  serpents  would  dart  out  of 
it. 

Another  writes, — "  As  I  was  leaving  a  house  where 
I  had  been  conversing  v^ith  a  number  of  persons, 
they  all  followed  me  to  the  door  to  look  up  to  a  cross 
which  the  Bishop  of  Nancy  had  erected  on  a  moun- 
tain in  sight,  saying  to  me,  that  he  had  told  them, 
that  each  time  they  cast  their  eyes  towards  it,  and 
repeated  a  certain  number  of  prayers,  they  would 
gain  an  indulgence  of  three  hundred  days'' 

These  facts  need  no  comment.  And  a  priesthood 
who  can  thus  impose  upon  the  ignorant  and  credu- 
lous, and  corrupt  the  very  fountain  of  truth,  and  al- 
most extinguish  the  human  intellect,  ought  to  be,  and 
will,  sooner  or  later,  become  the  loathing  and  abhor- 
rence of  the  friends  of  God  and  the  friends  of  man. 


f 


32 

The  people  who  welcome  an<l  caress  them,  receivo 
a  viper  to  their  bosom,  whose  sting  is  death  !  Under 
their  indiiencc,  iiit<^lligcnce,  liberty,  virtue,  religion 
and  happiness  have  always  expired,  and  gone  down 
to  an  early  sepulchre  ! 

Who  does  not  rejoice,  that  God  is  giving  such  sig- 
nal success  to  the  Swiss  mission,  among  such  a  peo- 
ple ?  Who  does  not  bless  God  for  the  honor  which 
he  has  conferred  upon  his  devoted  servants?  Let  me 
advert  to  one  instance  of  his  gracious  protection  of 
the  mission,  by  the  christian  inHuence  of  Madame 
Feller.  "  During  the  year  1838,  the  labors  of  the 
mission  had  proceeded  with  increased  success  :— JVi. 
Roussy  being  engaged  in  preaching  at  various  sta- 
tions, and  Madame  Feller,  in  the  school,  and  in  pri- 
vate visitations.  But  in  the  month  of  November  civil 
war  ai^ain  broke  out  around  them,  and  their  neigh- 
borhood  became  the  scene  of  revolutionary  opera- 
tions. A  prominent  leader  of  the  insurgents,  who 
had  always  cherished  deep  hostility  to  the  mission, 
sent  a  band  of  armed  horsemen  to  make  M.  Roussy 
prisoner,  and  bring  him  to  the  camp.  Through  the 
appeals  of  Madame  Feller,  the  angry  troop,  who 
came  to  the  house  full  of  rage,  were  softened  and 
conciliated.  They  left  M.  Roussy  in  his  own  house, 
and  pledged  themselves  that  neither  they  nor  their 
property  should  be  molested  during  the  war.  The 
pledge  given  was  literally  redeemed.  While  all 
around  them  were  pillaged,  and  all  who  refused  to 
join  the  insurgents  voluntarily  were  cruelly  taken 
prisoners,  the  mission  family  were  untouched."  Tru- 


ill! 

at 

ml 

to 

tc 


33 

ly  God  is  with  them.     Such  honor  have  those  who 
love  find  serve  him.  ^ 

And  here  I  leave  the  cause.  May  this  audience 
meet  their  high  responsibiUtics  ;  and'may  God  him- 
self put  his  own  seal  of  approbation  on  your  doings, 
for  Clirist's  sake. 


Ill  presenting  the  second  edition  of  this  Discourse  to 
the  public,  through  the  press,  it  may  not  be  improper  nor 
Avithout  its  practical  use,  to  glance  at  this  interesting  mis- 
sion as  it  has  contiiuied  to  prosper,  under  the  smile  of 
heaven,  another  year.  This  work  is  of  God  ;  and  the  ef- 
forts of  these  devoted  teachers  of  a  pure  Christianity,  are 
happily  adapted  to  the  benighted  population  of  Canada, 
and  should  receive  the  countenance  and  support  of  Pro- 
testants in  the  United  States.  The  end  which  they  pro- 
])ose,  under  (lod,  to  accomplish  is  smblime  and  Christ-like. 
They  wii^h  to  give  to  a  people  who  sit  in  darkness  and  the 
shadow  of  death,  the  knowledge  of  letters,  a  good  com- 
mon school  education,  a  written  revelation  in  their  own 
language,  a  pure  Protestant  ministry,  and  all  the  conse- 
quent blessings — intellectual,  social,  moral  and  religious, 
which  are  inseparable  from  the  Bible  and  its  institutions. 
These  laborers  are  adapted  to  this  work.  After  a  long  and 
dark  night,  the  set  time  to  favor  Zion,  in  that  land,  has 
come.  Tin;  people  are  awaking  from  their  sluml)ers,  and 
beginning  to  search  after  God  and  his  truth.  A  spirit  of 
jncjuiry  has  been  aroused  which  has  never  before  existed 
in  that  country,  and  which  will  not  soon  be  extinguished, 
and  which  already  furnishes  devoted  christians  with  as 
much  labor  in  doing  good,  as  they  can  perform.  Minis- 
ters ofthe  gospel,  teachers  of  children  and  youth,  colpor- 
teurs, Bible-renders, — nil  have  their  hands  full,  and  they  arc 


84 


h 


cncouroged  and  urged  forward,  in  their  labors  of  love,  by 
every  thing  they  see  and  hear  around  them.  The  people 
ask  for  instruetiou, — iIk*  Bible  is  eagerly  nought  for  and 
read, — and  conversions  to  God  are  not  unfrecpient.  "  The 
desert  "  has  already  begun  to  '*  rejoice,  and  blossom  as  tho 
rose  ;"  and  the  dark  old  forests  of  this  land  of  ignorance, 
and  priestcraft,  and  spiritual  oppression,  and  other  entailed 
curses  of  lloniaiiism, ''  rejoice  even  with  joy  and  singing." 
May  God  speed  the  enterprise.  And  may  those  Ladies 
who  have  nobly  embarked  in  this  work,  prosecute  it  with 
a  characteristic  ardor  and  perseverance,  assured,  that,  "  in 
due  season  they  shall  reap,  if  they  faint  not." 


H 


i  ( 


U 


\r 


25 


-4*lg»« 


ATPEAL 

Or  THE  Hoard  of  JNIanaoeus  or  the  Troy  Swiss  Mission 
Society,  to  those  uenevoi.ent  and  influential  Ladies 

LNTO  whose  hands  THIS  DISCOURSE  MAY  FALL. 


Sisters  : 

The  earth  is  the  Lord's.  We  are  his — made  by  him  to 
sojourn  here  as  a  school,  wlicre  if  we  arc  obedient  and 
docile,  he  will  translate  us  to  the  joys  of  an  everlasting 
home.  What  we  call  our  own,  constitutes  a  part  of  our  tri- 
al and  probation.  Shall  we  cling  to  a  few  of  these  perish- 
ing possessions,  none  of  which  we  can  carry  with  us,  to 
the  loss  of  that  sentient  immortal  soul,  which  is  of  more 
worth  tiian  an  inanimate  planet,  with  all  its  gold  and  dia- 
monds ; — or  shall  we,  when  we  see  before  us  the  prospect 
of  a  great  good  to  be  done — especially,  a  good  to  precious 
souls — shall  we  part  with  a  little  of  this  hoarded  treasure, 
and  send  it  to  heaven,  to  be  laid  up,  that  we  may  find  it 
there  ? 

At  this  time  let  us  think  of  what  our  devoted  sister,  the 
apostolic  Madame  Feller,  has  done.  She  has  given  her  all 
of  fortune,  on  which  she  might  have  lived  in  ease  and 
pleasure  in  her  home,  situated  in  one  of  the  most  paradi- 
siacal spots  on  the  earth.  She  has  given  more — she  has 
given  herself.  When  she  met  with  us,  we  questioned  her 
as  to  her  first  movements  in  Canada  ;  and  from  her  own 
saintly  lips  we  learned,  that  she  began  by  going  into  the 
miserable  abodes  of  squalid  poverty,  where  parents  had  no 
more  than  one  cotton  garment  with  which  to  guard  a  child 


36 


^H 


against  the  rigors  of  the  climate  ;  no  food  to  give,  better 
than  potatoes ;  no  medicines  for  sickness — and,  if  they 
had,  no  skill  to  nse  them.  She  sought  out  the  sick  among 
them,  and  spent  her  money  to  buy  them  medicines,  and 
herself  to  watch  beside  the  midnight  pallet  of  straw  ;  and 
thus,  almost  like  the  blessed  Saviour,  she  proved  to  the 
people  that  her  mission  was  divine,  by  healing  their  sick. 
She  clothed  the  children,  and  began  to  teach  both  them  and 
the  parents.  And  they  icouhl,  then,  despite  the  prohibi- 
tions of  their  priests,  receive  her  instructions.  When  we 
think  of  these  things,  Sisters  of  the  Protestant  Faith,  let  us 
do  a  little,  Avhcre  she  has  done  so  much. 

We  would  then  nfrcctionately  request  you,  to  call  toge- 
ther your  circle  of  friends  and  read  with  them  this  sermon. 
Perhaps  their  hearts  will  move  them  to  organize,  that  ef- 
fort may  become  concentrated  and  efricient.  If  your  lo- 
cality makes  it  more  convenient  to  transmit  any  funds  you 
may  collect  to  us,  than  to  send  them  direct  to  Madame 
Feller,  at  Grande  Ligne,  L.  Canada,  or  to  send  them  to 
the  city  of  New-York,  to  the  care  of  William  W.  Chester, 
Esq.,  Avc  ofler  to  receive  your  contributions,  and  pledge 
ourselves  to  transmit  them  safely,  and  render  you  an  account 
thereof.  In  this  case  you  can  direct  to  our  Treasurer,  Mrs. 
Laura  Willard,  Fourth-street,  Troy.  Any  contributions, 
however  small,  will  doubtless  be  acceptable. 

EMMA  WILLARD, 
MAKY  CHURCH, 
E.  M.   NORTON, 
L.  WILLARD, 
N.  HINSDALE, 
P.  D.  BIGELOW, 
HANNAH  T.  NOYES, 
ALMIRA  BARNES, 
S.  L.  WILLARD. 


^ 


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fion. 

cf. 

lo- 

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edge 

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Mrs. 

ions, 


mit;:ki£i::hy 


*s*tf  i*-^■,^?^^4S''■'  *'■'( 


